Electrical connectors provide signal and power connection between electronic devices using signal and power contacts supported within a connector housing. For example, computers and other electronic devices often include a plurality of interconnected printed circuit boards (PCBs) connected by electrical connectors. It is common for a computer to have a motherboard and one or more other boards that execute or perform specialized operations or tasks. These specialized boards are often referred to as daughter cards. The connectors connecting these PCBs provide for the transfer of power and/or control signals between the PCBs.
A connector which includes a housing and contacts is attached to a first PCB, such as a daughter card, by connecting one end of the contacts on a first side of the connector housing to electrical contacts on a surface of the first circuit board. Often, this connection is made by soldering so as to permanently attach the connector to the first PCB. The connector is then attached to a second PCB, which may be a motherboard, by press-fitting leads of the contacts on a second side of the connector into plated through holes of the second PCB. In such a manner, the connector provides an electrical connection, as well as a physical connection, between the two circuit boards. Since the connector is attached by a removable press-fit connection with the second PCB, the first PCB along with the connector, may be removed from the second PCB and reused.
It some circumstances, it may be desirable to provide a security measure to prohibit or deter removing a first PCB from a second PCB, for example, to prohibit the first PCB from being reused. At this time, no practical system or method has been developed to render inoperative a first PCB when removed from a second PCB.
Furthermore, no practical method has been developed to render unusable a connector attached to a first electrical device when removed from a second electrical device or another connector attached to another electrical device.
Therefore, there is an unmet need to provide an electrical connector which is rendered unusable upon separation from an electrical device or another connector to which the connector has been previously joined.